Recaps courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Three teams clinched a spot in the six-team 20204 Mid-American Conference Volleyball tournament: First-place Bowling Green, defending champs Western Michigan, and Central Michigan. The date and location of the tournament will be determined by the 2024 Regular Season Champion, which is still to be determined.
 
Friday Volleyball results
Western Michigan 3, Miami 0
Ohio 3, Buffalo 1
Ball State 3, Toledo 0
Central Michigan 3, Kent State 0
Akron 3, Eastern Michigan 0
Bowling Green 3, Northern Illinois 0
 
Western Michigan 3, Miami 0 | Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan volleyball team swept Miami (25-19, 25-9, 25-20) on Friday night to clinch a spot in the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament. The victory was WMU's eighth in a row overall and its fourth straight sweep.
The Western Michigan attack hit a blazing .438 for the evening, a new season-high. Madison Merz led the way with 12 kills on a .647 hitting percentage (12-1-17), while Annalise Patchett hit .450 to match a career-best with 11 kills. Logan Case fueled the WMU offense with 38 assists.

Andelyn Simkins posted a team-high 18 digs, with Case and Reeghan Boyer chipping in seven apiece. Merz picked up a match-high four blocks, including a pair of solo rejections.

The Broncos wrap up their regular season home schedule on Saturday as they face Miami again at 5 pm. Saturday is Senior Day for Western Michigan, with the program's six seniors set to be honored in a ceremony following the match. 
 
Ohio 3, Buffalo 1 | Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio volleyball team (13-13, 9-6 MAC) defeated Buffalo (14-14, 10-5 MAC) 3-1 (25-10, 24-26, 26-24, 25-21) on Saturday, Nov. 8.

Sophomore Kam Hunt (Sylvania, Ohio) tallied a team-high 15 kills and 17.5 points with two service aces. Junior Anna Kharchynska (Kyiv, Ukraine) recorded 14 kills and 16.5 points. Graduate student Elizabeth Hoerlein (Mason, Ohio) finished with 11 kills and 13.5 points.
Freshman Bryn Janke (Westfield, Wis.) was Ohio's go-to setter against Buffalo. Janke recorded 37 assists in addition to two service aces, three kills, five points, and a career-high 13 digs.
 
Defensively, Kharchynska and Hoerlein led the team in blocking with five total each. Sophomore Kendall Hickey (Fishers, Ind.) tallied a team-high 26 digs.
  
Ohio played a strong third set against Buffalo. The Bobcats came out on top with a 25-21 victory and won the match in a 3-1 decision.
 
The Bobcats will be back in action when they host Buffalo on Saturday, Nov. 8, for Senior Day. The match is set to start at 3 p.m. ET.
 
Ball State 3, Toledo 0 |Box Score
TOLEDO, Ohio - - The Ball State women's volleyball team ran its winning streak to seven matches with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-19) victory over Toledo Friday evening at Savage Arena.

The Cardinals (17-8; 10-4 Mid-American Conference) jumped out to a fast start, scoring four of the match's first five points. While the Rockets (15-12; 8-7 MAC) could take the lead and maintain an edge at 16-15, Ball State used a four-point run to reclaim the momentum and never looked back.

For the third straight match, Ball State freshman outside Carson Tyler led all players in kills, this time scoring 11 in the sweep. She also added six digs and a pair of service aces.

Senior setter Megan Wielonski also served up two aces, upping her career total to 188, which is four shy of breaking the program's record of 191 currently held by Stacy Jordan (1982-85).

Wielonski was also one of three Cardinals to register double-digit digs in the contest, scoring 10 to go along with 18 assists for her 65th career double-double.

Sophomore setter Lindsey Green and freshman libero Sophie Ledbetter tied for team-high honors with 13 digs apiece, with Green adding a team-high 20 assists for her second career double-double.

Overall, Wielonski and Green led the Ball State offense to a .263 (47-17-114) hitting mark against a Toledo squad that entered the weekend ranked third in the MAC and 80th nationally in limiting opponents to a .186 hitting mark.

Along with Tyler's 11 kills, junior opposite Madison Buckley added nine, while redshirt sophomore opposite Aniya Kennedy and junior outside Katie Egenolf added eight apiece.

Leading the Cardinals at the net was graduate middle Aayinde Smith with six total blocks, to go along with six kills and a .417 (6-1-12) hitting mark.

The two squads will square off again at 4 p.m. Saturday in Savage Arena.
 
Central Michigan 3, Kent State 0 | Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Hot from the start. That is the best way to describe Central Michigan in their Friday night game against Kent State. Central Michigan defeated the Golden Flashes in three sets (25-11, 25-18, 25-20) to advance to 21-6 on the season and 12-3 in MAC play. The loss for Kent State drops them to 2-23 on the season and 1-14 in the MAC season.

There were three Chippewas with double-digit kills in Rejment, Kasson, and Olin, while freshman Grace Thomas added another seven.
Not only was Central Michigan sharing the load on the offensive side of the ball, but also defensively.

There were three Chippewas with double-digit dig nights and two more over the seven notches. Freshman libero Hannah Langton led CMU with 16 digs, the 25^th double-digit dig night of her young career. Not far behind Langton was Rejment with 11, and Alina Anderson added 10 of her own.

The Chippewas added eight blocks on the night. Olin charted five two solos, and Thomas charted three of her own.

There were 28 Central Michigan Volleyball Alumni in attendance at the sweep for CMU, being honored in the annual alumni night celebration. The alumni were invited to the locker room pregame to sign the Action C in the locker room and recognized on the court during the match.

Saturday, the Chippewas will host Kent State again in their final regular season game in McGuirk Arena at 4 p.m. The Chippewas will celebrate their five graduating seniors post-match as well.
 
Akron 3, Eastern Michigan 0 | Box Score
YPSILANTI, Mich -The Akron volleyball team needed just three sets (25-16, 25-22, 25-21) to defeat the Eastern Michigan Eagles Friday on the road at George Gervin GameAbove Center.

Emanouela Christodoulou finished with 14 kills on the day to lead the Zips attack. Eliska Vytiskova also pitched in with six aces in the contest. Vytiskova's six aces tie her for the seventh most recorded by a Zip in a single game. She also finished with 29 assists. Defensively, Akron was led by Delaney Gash and her 12 digs. Gash also chipped in with nine kills on the night. Ellen Kinnaird recorded four blocks against the Eagles, while Gabby Brissett and Gash both had two.

On the night, the Zips recorded nine aces against Eastern Michigan.

The victory boosted the Zips' record to 10-17 overall and 6-9 in MAC play.

Game Notes
»  Vytiskova had a match-high six aces in the win.
» Akron never trailed on the way to winning the first set 25-16.
» Akron served up six aces on the way to a first-set victory.
» Emanouela Christodoulou had a match-high 14 kills for Akron.
» Akron got a match-high 12 digs from  Gash.
» Akron attackers were helped by a match-high 29 assists from Vytiskova.

What's Next?
The Zips conclude their series with the Eagles tomorrow, November 9, for a 4 p.m. start.
 
Bowling Green 3, Northern Illinois 0 | Box Score
DeKALB, Ill. – The Bowling Green State University volleyball team claimed a 3-0 sweep over Northern Illinois Friday night (Nov. 8), extending the team's winning streak to eight matches and clinching a spot in the MAC Tournament. The Falcons are the first team to secure a spot in the conference tournament and sit atop the standings with a 13-2 MAC record while being 18-8 on the season. Bowling Green and Northern Illinois will return to the court Saturday evening (Nov. 9) to wrap up the weekend with a 5 p.m. EST start. 

Falcon Stat Leaders 
Kills: Mia Tyler (11)
Assists: Amanda Otten (33)
Digs: Amanda Otten (14)
Aces: Lauryn Hovey (2)
Blocks: Jessica Andrews, Lauryn Hovey, Alexis Mettille (4)

Up Next
The Falcons and Huskies will wrap up their weekend series on Saturday (Nov. 9). BGSU and NIU are scheduled for a 5 p.m. EST start, marking the final regular season road match this year for Bowling Green.